The Election of 1896

To better understand the election of 1896 it is important to understand the events leading up to the presidential election. The year is 1893 and Grover Cleveland is president of the United States, in this year great change was coming to the United States mainly an economic depression causing most people especially farmers and ranchers to demand change in Washington. During this time period the federal government was weak making them powerless to combat the economic woes that were facing the country (Goldfield, et al., 2011). Political parties began to change as during this time partisan politics began mainly into two parties the Democrats and the Republicans. After Pres. Johnson was impeached and Pres. Grant allowed Congress to do his presidential duties the office of the presidency was considered more administrative position then a position of public or legislative power which calls Pres. Cleveland to be powerless against the depression of 1893. With each election causing a shift in power in Congress caused a constant strain on the House and Senate and times between Congressmen, this caused Congress to do inefficient (Goldfield, et al., 2011).

Now the year is 1896 and the president of the United States will be elected, the Republicans nominate Ohio Gov. William McKinley and the Democrats were split between the gold standard and the silverites . The silver Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan and the gold standard Democrats switch sides and went with McKinley. This is the first time that one of the major political parties and defected and joined the other party. With this defection is tilted the scales in McKinley’s favor. The election was close as McKinley received only 51% of the popular vote and Bryan received 47% of the popular vote (Goldfield, et al., 2011).

McKinley took office in 1897 and unlike his predecessors he had a definite program protecting tariffs, money, and the...

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...A watershed Election is one that changes history. The candidate has a campaign that decides the course of politics for decades; one that is especially memorable, or that proves to be a dividing line between historical periods. The election of 1896 was just that.
The depression of the 1890s, and President Cleveland’s unwillingness to use federal resources to assist the unemployed, alienated irate farmers and workers from the Democratic Party. During the 1892 and 1894 elections, Democrats suffered large Congressional seat losses while Republicans and Populists each achieved significant gains.
As the presidential election of 1896 drew closer and political leaders worked to define party platforms, currency standards became the hottest issue. While Republicans endorsed the gold standard to win east coast industrialist votes, Populists continued to support unlimited silver coinage to increase the money supply. Democrats, meanwhile, were split as they struggled to find a common direction for their party and overcome the unpopular actions and policies of the Cleveland administration.
At the Democratic convention in Chicago, the commanding presence of William Jennings Bryan captured the attention of the delegates as he spoke in favor of using the ratio of 16 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold to create coins. Bryan’s support of silver over gold angered those who favored only gold, commonly...

...The election of 1896 was in fact a turning point in American political history. The election led to the end of two highly important political debates of the 19th century. Since the election of 1800, the matter of whether the nation should be governed on industrial interests or argarian interests had been a major factor. Also, since the gold standard had become effective in 1873 America had been divided on the issue of silver as a legal currency. The victory of William McKinley helped led to the end of argarian interests in American politics as well as the end of the political debate over American currency. With both of these highly debated political matters being put to an end, American politics changed greatly.
Since the election of 1800, nearly every presidential election presented an electorate whose platform was based off of argarian politics, and relied on argarian voters. After the election of 1896, this was longer the case. The country made a shift from a partially argarian nation to an urban and industrialized nation. The focus of the Republican party had went from a goal to promote economic growth to the need to maintatin and regulate industrialism. With the fall of argarianism as an opposition, the continuance of industrialism in America was not an issue. From the fall of argarianism in poilitics came the prosperity of industrialization.
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... Jumper-Period 5
AP US History
6 February 2013
Election of 1896
The election of 1896 between the Republicans, gold Democrats, silver Democrats, Prohibitionists, People’s Party, Socialists/Labor Party, and the Silver Party ended in the election of Republican candidate William McKinley. I personally believe McKinley was the correct choice for America during the election. Several of the other parties remained neutral on certain policies that were troubling our country while others chose to focus entirely on one principle, ignoring several problems facing the US. The Republican Party promoted the Dingley Tariff, preventing foreign workforces to take jobs from desperate American citizens, the Gold Standard, a fixed international currency that American specie would be based on, women’s suffrage, and the rights of colored people. Taking a stand on several issues ignored by other parties, the Republicans stood in a way which simultaneously appealed to the largest voting mass and did the most to advance American people. With each political stance, McKinley stabilized the problems facing Americans and others involved in our economic and political systems. By preventing mass immigration to continue, he allowed several Americans to find work where it had previously been difficult. The Gold standard, although thought to risk and ruin farmers with debts, stabilized the fragile American economy...

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...be hard to imagine American voters today getting excited about the money supply. So why was free silver the hot topic of the 1896election?
At that point in time, social unrest, political ambitions, and unconditional economic interests came together to cause a power push to increase the money supply. (1). On July 14, 1890, Senator John Sherman of Ohio passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. This act provided for the issuance of legal tender notes sufficient in amount to pay for approximately 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month at the frequent market price. Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan knew that he had to have a catchy platform for his campaign. He then decided to go with ‘free silver’. With the economy still recovering, he believed it would be easy to persuade his followers. Bryan felt that this would be an easy task, because of his opponent not being able to campaign like him. William McKinley, the republican nominee, was at home with his who was very ill and did not feel up too all the campaigning. Bryan did not realize that he would end up in the bottom like he did. McKinley stole the fame and votes of most of the people. Many businessmen and bankers were scared of William Jennings Bryan's populist oratory and encouragement for ending the gold standard. In overall standings, William McKinley won the 1896 presidential election.
1. Answers.com, Sherman Silver Purchase Act; accessed...

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